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#1
02-12-2002, 01:35 PM
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 Cooking by candlelight yesterday was a funny day, My hotel was booked, the restaurant was sold out..a couple of private functions scheduled, and right before service we lost all power!!!We had a very windy day in Ct, and a tree came down on a main down the street from the hotel. So, I had 185 reservations in my main restuarant,55 people in private functions..and 135 staff members to feed  So right away I called our security department to run us in a batch of flashlights, and then I had the wait staff fire up about 30votive and tapered candles and placed them all over the kitchen. Now..The guest were aware of what was happening, but my restaurant has tons of windows, so it wasn't really dark in the dining room. the two private functions both we're in rooms that overlooked the gardens and had big french doors to let in the sunlight. So I had my staff line up all our cassete feus behind the line, and I told the servers to give us ten minutes to set up. After a couple minutes I told them to go and take orders from the guest, by this time the restaurant was packed with hungry folks. I grabbed everyone I could, and there we stood...cooking everything on the menu ala minute and by candlelight. Thank god my walk ins and hood system run on a back up generator, so I didn't worry about setting off the ansul system, or loosing things due to tempature. You guys would have had a really good laugh if you saw us (12) cooks cooking side by side and by candlelight. I think the hardest part of the day was trying to read the dupes and not lighting them on fire when we held them to the candles. Well we feed everyone....even the staff..(sandwiches) What made this so much fun was the great team work of my staff, and that 10 guests came into the kitchen to give us a standing ovation  This made me think of what others may have had to deal with in the 11th hour cc
__________________ Baruch ben Rueven / Chana "If the sun refused to shine, I will still be lovin you. Mountains crumble to the sea, it will still be you and me"      |
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#2
02-12-2002, 02:44 PM
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 That is a great story CC!!!  I have had that happen to me also, on a Friday night with 300 covers. It is amazing how we can pull things off like that, without the guests knowing. My hat is off to you!!! |
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#4
02-12-2002, 04:34 PM
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| We lost power at the country club last summer on a friday afternoon before a big wedding on a saturday. I left for the day and they went out and bought about 500 lbs of dry ice to put in the two walkins. I opened the walkin the next morning at 5 am and walked into pure carbon dioxide, which had me gasping and choking in a split second.
__________________ It's not Dairy Queen. |
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#5
02-12-2002, 04:59 PM
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| Brad, picture me standing here applauding you. Good job. Now that's keeping your head
__________________ WWW.diablos-hockey.com "I'm at the age when food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact I've just had a mirror put over my kitchen table." Rodney Dangerfield RIP |
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#6
02-12-2002, 05:18 PM
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| Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, Cape Chef!!! Big Hat--you are lucky to be alive! Was all your produce frozen hard as rocks?
__________________ She's my little biscuit-eater! Too much pork for just one fork.  Liquored up and laquered down, She's got the biggest hair in town!  |
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#7
02-13-2002, 07:10 AM
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| CC you are amazing!! Commando cooking at it's finest. |
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#8
02-13-2002, 09:29 AM
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| This is my favorite kind of stories cape chef  Well a black-out lead me to the world of pastries one night in London in " Famagusta" a cyprian restaurant... I baked a pan of galaktompoureko in the fireplace Old technique from Mani. We bake bread that way.I didn't know that I had to mention this in my repertoire
__________________ "Muabet de Turko,kama de Grego i komer de Djidio", old sefardic proverb ( Three things worth in life: the gossip of the Turk , the bed of the Greek and the food of the Jew) |
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#10
02-13-2002, 01:34 PM
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| Stuff that was on the shelves right under the blocks of dry ice was frozen solid from the cold pouring down over it. that kind of amazed me, that a turkey breast 2 feet from the ice could freeze like that. Power goes out at this place any time there's thunder, let alone a storm. Had a lot of lightning damage to irrigation computers this year.
__________________ It's not Dairy Queen. |
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#12
02-16-2002, 07:24 PM
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| Cape Chef , great job . You show the true meaning of the word chef . Customer service with a flair . Thanks for the post Chef .
__________________ The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity ! |
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#13
02-16-2002, 07:41 PM
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| Funny how so many people had the same thing happen!! It happened to me about 4 years ago. Hotel I was working in got hit by lightning. The long and short of it... we had 600 guests and our entire staff to feed. Well, we had one mighty long extension cord stretch 2 blocks to the nearest place w/electricity to run a slicer to make sandwiches for the staff. However, the guests got a hot meal. How, you ask? Did you know you can get an oven up to about 300* with a sheet-tray full of Sterno?! Don't ask... it didn't taste great, but it was hot. They were happy. We were happy to go home! Good job, B! Should have called me... I would have been on the next Amtrak to help (or at least marvel at your hard work!) Your crew deserves the Golden Hospitality Award... if there is such a thing.
__________________ Invention, my dear friends, is ninety-three percent perspiration, six percent electricity, four percent evaporation, and two percent butterscotch ripple |
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#14
02-17-2002, 12:59 PM
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| Hi CC, Glad you and your staff made it!!! That's total professionalism... M so proud of you guys... pastry |
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#15
02-17-2002, 01:15 PM
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| You guys are all so sweet and thoughtful, It's my staff that made the difference. I am sure that every single one of you would have handled yourself with proffesionalism. It's all in the traineing right? Thanks again It means allot cc
__________________ Baruch ben Rueven / Chana "If the sun refused to shine, I will still be lovin you. Mountains crumble to the sea, it will still be you and me" |
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